Quite simply, darts is a modern sporting phenomenon.

In the 1970s and 80s, it was a popular yet downmarket pub pastime whose World Championship was a very UK affair, run by the British Dart Organisation, won by the British and covered by the BBC.

To a cut a long and fractious story short, the PDC was formed in 1992 by Barry Hearn of Matchroom Sport in order to create a new-style showpiece tournament. There would be more glitz, more marketing nous and certainly more money for the players.

Today, the PDC World Championship is undoubtedly the premium event on a now crowded darts calendar. A total of 86,000 loud and boisterous fans attended last year’s event at Alexandra Palace with prize money topping £2.5m and the winner taking home £500,000 alone. Meanwhile, the audience on Sky TV is likely to be better anything other than football.

This is now a sport of millionaires. It is well-marketed and winning top industry awards for the quality of its events. There are academies and challenger tours as the organisation builds for the future and competitions across the globe as it attempts to reach new markets.

Matt Porter has been CEO of the PDC for more than a decade. He discussed the approach that has taken darts out of the pub, promoted it an entirely new way and pushed it onto the world stage.

TOPICS

The importance of running a high-quality event

Keeping the standard high despite the crowded calendar

Growing the PDC Darts event behind a subscription wall on Sky

The peculiar nature of darts - you can’t see the sport even when you are there

The way players have individualised and marketed themselves

The WWE influence over the entrances

The debate over darts’ sporting credibility

Football’s over-reliance on tribalism and lack of interest in marketing the product

Darts players and social media.

The relationship between social media and sponsorship in darts

How they use PDCTV, their OTT channel.

The importance of unofficial content channels

The human side of darts

Prince Harry becoming “a darts influencer”

Why darts is the UK’s most trusted sport

The challenger tour and academy set up

The opportunity to create a gender-neutral sport

The Premier League concept - Thursday night events in provincial towns

Why the PDC will always ‘leave ticket money on the table’

The development of different tournaments and why they are at maximum capacity

The determining factors behind darts’ global growth

Why they did not move into Holland earlier?

Which country has over-indexed and surprised him

The difficulty of expanding into Asia

Will the sport need a stand-out Asian player to make the breakthrough?

Why the future is consolidation

LINKS

Matthew Porter Twitter | LinkedIn

PDC Website